Category Archives: JOY

EMBRACING THE CHALLENGE OF AGING

Waiting patiently in expectation does not necessarily get easier as we become older. On the contrary, as we grow in age we are tempted to settle down in a routine way of living and say: “Well, I have seen it all. … There is nothing new under the sun. … I am just going to take it easy and take the days as they come.”

But in this way our lives lose their creative tension. We no longer expect something really new to happen. We become cynical or self-satisfied or simply bored. We have become couch Christians.

God is still writing your story.Don’t let go of your faith because of what you have yet to see.

The challenge of aging is waiting with an ever-greater patience and an ever- stronger expectation. It is living with an eager hope. It is the trusting that through Christ “we have been admitted into God’s favor … and look forward exultantly to God’s glory” Romans 5:2

LONELINESS IS SERIOUS.

It gnaws at our sense of reality, and can lead to depression and a sense of hopelessness. We may feel abandoned and sometimes rejected.

There are root causes such as death, separation or loss of a loved one. There could also be a change that comes upon you because of illness, unemployment or divorce.

LIVING IN LONELY BUBBLES

Loneliness is a dark and dreadful spirit hat haunts some of us today. Loneliness may mean that you are being attacked by Satan. God can intervene in your life and cleanse and heal your heart! You will not suffer from loneliness again since God will be sufficient for you. He will keep you in His peace.

We are a generation that doesn’t acknowledge others. We have lost what it means to have connection because all we’re ever connected to is the Internet or our devices.

Loneliness can have a greater impact on lifespan than obesity. Obesity increases a person’s chance of an early death by 30 %. Loneliness can increase it by a whopping 50%.

Some people are afraid to venture out and meet others, knowing that that effort will most likely result in rejection. When you do interact with people in public, they’re social for five minutes – that’s it!

Many people suffer with loneliness. They may work in large urban centers or may have hundreds of friends on Facebook, but they are still lonely. One of the reasons this happens is because we in society forget one another. “The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.” Mother Theresa

You might say that what you really want is what really matters: meaningful friendships, a marriage, a family. And these things, as God designed them, are good, and good to want and work for. But still they’re not the ultimate thing.

JOY OF LOVE

Much of “Amoris Laetitia”consists of reflections on the Gospels and church teaching on love, the family and children. This document offers the vision of a pastoral and merciful church that encourages people to experience the “joy of love.”

The church needs to understand families and individuals in all their complexity Pastors are to “avoid judgments which do not take into account the complexity of various situations” (296). People should not be “pigeonholed or fit into overly rigid classifications leaving no room for personal and pastoral discernment” (298). In other words, one size does not fit all. People are encouraged to live by the Gospel, but should also be welcomed into a church that appreciates their particular struggles and treats them with mercy. “Thinking that everything is black and white” is to be avoided (305). And the church cannot apply moral laws as if they were “stones to throw at people’s lives” (305). Overall, he calls for an approach of understanding, compassion and accompaniment.

MY YOKE IS EASY!

Your life doesn’t have to feel oppressive: remember, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” When we surrender to the path of love which He has laid out for us, our lives become infinitely lighter, easier, more joyful, for we are moving with the divine purpose.

Jesus says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” He is identifying every person who feels put upon by the world: economic worries, physical suffering, deep injustice, the death of a husband or wife, or the fear of your own death. You surely know what He’s referring to—we all do.

So powerful are the assistances He gives us, so suitable the encouragements, and so strong the consolations to be found in the way of duty, that we may truly say, it is a yoke of pleasantness. Continue reading GOD’S YOKE IS EASY→

WHY SUFFERING?

We will all experience pain at sometime or other in our lives. Whether this pain is our doing or God’s doing, which is something entirely different. Why an all-good, all-loving God does allow us to suffer?

Easy! He allows us all sorts of things because we have the freedom to behave as we will. He has also provided a place with the greatest contentment that we can imagine, if only we listen to Him. God wants us to return to Him, but He cannot force us to take this action.

SUFFERING AND JOY

God changes what suffering can do; it can make us one with God.

We are all called to the perfect joy. The Holy Spirit changes our sorrow and suffering into joy. “But the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”Galatians 5: 22-23

“Fear not“, because God is always with you, even in times that seem very obscure to you: “They do not know My ways.“Psalm 95:10

Billy Graham’s daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and she was asked, ‘How could God let something like this happen?‘ (regarding Hurricane Katrina). Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response.. She said, ‘I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out.

Tweet Jesus Christ is the ultimate high priest and He presents us with a description of the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ as far superior to the many sacrifices offered by the old priesthood. Jesus said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they […]

Tweet THE PRINCIPAL AGENT OF MISSION The coming of the Holy Spirit makes them witnesses and prophets Acts 1:8; 2:17-18. It fills them with a serene courage which impels them to pass on to others their experience of Jesus and the hope which motivates them. The Spirit gives them the ability to bear witness to Jesus with “boldness.” […]